Bottomly began her career as a fashion model in 1965, appearing on the cover of Mademoiselle. The following year, she moved to New York and joined Andy Warhol's Factory as a Warhol superstar. She was renamed International Velvet and went on to star in several films, including Chelsea Girls (1966), Paraphernalia (1966),Since (1966), Superboy (1966), and **** (The 24 Hour Movie) (1967).
Life and career
The image of Susan Bottomly by David McCabe that was used for the cover of Mademoiselle in December 1965.
In 1966, Bottomly met poet and filmmaker Gerard Malanga at a party for poet Rene Ricard in Boston.[6] Malanga was instantly smitten and made Prelude toInternational Velvet Debutante, a home-made short film.[6] "I was conscious of making the first film of Susan Bottomly, and in a sense I was making my own superstar discovery ... So that when I returned to New York, I could say, 'She's already appeared in one movie. And it's my movie," said Malanga.[6] Bottomly returned to New York with Malanga and they resided in a room paid for by her parents at the Chelsea Hotel.[10]
Malanga had been pop artist Andy Warhol's studio assistant and eagerly introduced him to Bottomly.[6] Warhol invited her to join his Factory as a Warhol superstar, "I had so much affection for Andy. He wasn’t a big talker, but he had a certain, extraordinary charisma that gave you a kind of permission and license to be freer than I’d even been able to be," said Bottomly.[1]
Bottomly was, in Warhol's words, "very beautiful".[10] A tall, long-necked brunette with graceful physicality, she impressed the artist deeply. She worked diligently on her personal cosmetics regimen, a process which Warhol observed with fascination: "Watching someone like Susan Bottomly, who had such perfect, full, fine features, doing all this on her face was like watching a beautiful statue painting itself."[10]
Bottomly quickly became the group's breakthrough star, and despite being the Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick's successor, there was no animosity between them. "Edie was very gracious and sweet, very friendly to me. She was the queen bee when I arrived at the Factory," said Bottomly.[1]
She went on to star in the Factory film, Paraphernalia (1966), and followed up with the silent short film Superboy (1966).[11] Her time as a Factory star illuminated her beauty, and seemed to draw people to her with a kind of ethereal grace and allure. Warhol admitted, "There were other girls who were just as beautiful as Susan Bottomly was, but her way of moving made her extra beautiful. People constantly wanted to know, 'Who is she?'"[10]
Susan Bottomly (L) asks Mary Woronov (R) why she won't answer Bottomly's phone. Still from The Chelsea Girls (1966).
Bottomly starred in Chelsea Girls (1966), which was filmed during the summer of 1966. She appeared in three segments of the three-hour split screen film. One of the segments, titled Hanoi Hannah after Mary Woronov's character, showed Bottomly, Woronov, and Ingrid Superstar conversing in Bottomly's room at the Chelsea Hotel. The scene shows Bottomly playing a passive character in juxtaposition to Woronov's curt and aggressive character, Hanoi Hannah. Prior to filming, Bottomly informed Warhol and Woronov that she was expecting a phone call from a major modeling agency and would have to answer it during filming if it rang.[12] When the phone call arrived, Woronov pulled it out of Bottomly's hands and prevented her from taking it back. She scaldingly, told Bottomly, "You don't have a call. You have a fat ass." Bottomly ran from the set in tears, although did later return to finish the scene.
This scene led to much speculation on the relationship between Bottomly and Woronov. In her book, Woronov recalled that "Velvet was a slob; a girl slob, messy but sexy like underwear and perfume ... was a society girl from Boston hoping to follow in Edie Sedgwick's footsteps, footsteps that seemed to lead straight to the rubber room so far as I could see, but that was her problem; I was more than willing to be the first step in putting her there. She was mine, my victim, according to the script which was a very S&M setup, with me in the S part."[12]
During this time, Warhol as the manager of the Velvet Underground, an avante garde rock band. Bottomly appeared in the film The Velvet Underground: Tarot Cards, a 60-minute sound film depicting member of the Velvet Underground having their tarot cards read. Bottomly became involved with Velvet Underground members Lou Reed and John Cale, causing more conflict in the group, which was already disintegrating.[13]
By the fall of 1966, Bottomly was dating David Croland.[10][14] Croland designed her large statement earrings, which she became known for.[15] Bottomly and Croland accompanied Warhol to parties and gallery openings, bringing attention to their bold style.[16] Bottomly was chosen as one of New York's three fashion trendsetters by Women's Wear Daily.[8]
Bottomly was represented by the Paul Wagner modeling agency.[3] She appeared in Vogue, Newsweek, and Town & Country.[8] She was featured on the February 1967 cover of Esquire magazine, seated in a trash can.[3] In 1967, Bottomly did a screen test at Paramount for the lead role in the American remake of the British film Darling.[3]
Viva and Susan Bottomly by Billy Name at the Factory, 1968.
Bottomly attended the 1967 Cannes Film Festival with Warhol to screen Chelsea Girls, but the film was not shown.[17] "The festival authorities explained that the film was too long, there were technical problems, there was no time."[17] Bottomly and Croland had initially planned to stay France for two weeks but they ended up living in Paris for a year.[18]
After Bottomly met French matinee star Christian Marquand, she and Croland split up in 1968.[10] She was cast in a minor role in the film Candy (1968).[10] In the film, she ran down a street shouting "Candy! Your forgot the shoe!" After filming, she was flown to Italy by Marquand to work with the Living Theatre, where she stayed for three months.[10]
When she returned to New York, Bottomly appeared alongside other Factory members in John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (1969), which as filmed after the attempted assassination of Warhol in 1968.[6][19] Late that year, Bottomly left the Factory as Warhol superstar Viva was gaining popularity. "I remember having a few twangs about the fact that Viva was becoming more important than I was. On the other hand I knew it was time for me to move on, so it wasn’t a big deal to me," she recalled.[1]
Later career
In 1969, Bottomly married Frederick Terry Krementz at her parents home in Wellesley, Massachusetts.[5] As a fashion photographer Krementz went by the name Tony Kent.[5] The couple moved to Paris and Bottomly changed her name to Susan Kent.[4][20] She continued modeling in the 1970s, appearing most often in European magazines such as Vogue Paris, Vogue Italia, and Elle France. She appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine in August 1975 and October 1976.[21][22]
Paul Joseph Morrissey was an American film director, known for his early association with Andy Warhol. His most famous films include Flesh (1968), Trash (1970), Heat (1972), Flesh for Frankenstein (1973), and Blood for Dracula (1974), all starring Joe Dallesandro, 1971's Women in Revolt and the 1980's New York trilogy Forty Deuce (1982), Mixed Blood (1985), and Spike of Bensonhurst (1988).
Edith Minturn Sedgwick Post was an American actress, model, and socialite, who was one of Andy Warhol's superstars, starring in several of his short films during the 1960s. Her prominence led to her being dubbed an "It Girl", while Vogue magazine named her a "Youthquaker".
Brigid Emmett Berlin, also known as Brigid Polk, was an American artist and Warhol superstar.
Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by the pop artist Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life, epitomizing his dictum, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes". Warhol would simply film them, and declare them "superstars".
The Factory was Andy Warhol's studio in Manhattan, New York City, which had four locations between 1963 and 1987. The Factory became famed for its parties in the 1960s. It was the hip hangout spot for artists, musicians, celebrities, and Warhol's superstars. The original Factory was often referred to as the Silver Factory. In the studio, Warhol's workers would make silkscreens and lithographs under his direction.
Chelsea Girl is the debut solo album and second studio album by German singer Nico. It was released in October 1967 by Verve Records and was recorded following Nico's collaboration with the Velvet Underground on their 1967 debut studio album. Chelsea Girl was produced by Tom Wilson, who added string and flute arrangements against the wishes of Nico. The title is a reference to Andy Warhol's 1966 film Chelsea Girls, in which Nico starred.
Gerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, actor, curator and archivist.
Mary Woronov is an American actress, writer, and figurative painter. She is primarily known as a "cult star" because of her work with Andy Warhol and her roles in Roger Corman's cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies and on stage at Lincoln Center and off-Broadway productions as well as numerous times in mainstream American TV series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider. She frequently co-starred with friend Paul Bartel; the pair appeared in 17 films together, often playing a married couple.
Factory Girl is a 2006 American biographical film directed by George Hickenlooper. It is based on the rapid rise and fall of 1960s underground film star and socialite Edie Sedgwick, known for her association with the artist Andy Warhol.
Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann, known professionally as Viva, is an American actress, writer and former Warhol superstar.
"Femme Fatale" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, with lead vocals by Nico.
Chelsea Girls is a 1966 American experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films. It was shot at the Hotel Chelsea and other locations in New York City, and follows the lives of several of the young women living there, and stars many of Warhol's superstars. The film is presented in a split screen, accompanied by alternating soundtracks attached to each scene and an alternation between black-and-white and color photography. The original cut runs at just over three hours long.
a, also known as a: A Novel, is a 1968 book by the American artist Andy Warhol published by Grove Press. It is a nearly word-for-word transcription of tapes recorded by Warhol and Ondine over a two-year period in 1965–1967.
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia gesamtkunstwerk events organized by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey in 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, such as Eat, and dancing and mime performance art by regulars of Warhol's Factory, especially Mary Woronov and Gerard Malanga. In December 1966 Warhol included a one-off magazine called The Plastic Exploding Inevitable as part of the Aspen No. 3 package.
Four Stars is a 1967 avant-garde film by Andy Warhol, consisting of 25 hours of film. In typical Warhol fashion of the period, each reel of the film is 35 minutes long, or 1200 ft. in length, and is shot in sync-sound.
Agneta Marianne Bengtsdotter Frieberg was a Swedish fashion model and activist. She was known for her extensive editorial and commercial appearances throughout the 1960s, resulting in a decade-long career under the Ford Modeling agency.
Since is a 1966 film directed by Andy Warhol about the assassination of the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. The film reconstructs the assassination with both Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson present, both before and after the event. The roles in Since are performed by Warhol's "superstars" from The Factory.
Jane Forth is an American actress, model, and make-up artist. She is best known for having been a Warhol superstar, starring in the films Trash (1970) and L'Amour (1972). She was also one of “Antonio’s Girls”, a muse of fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez.
The Garrick Cinema was a 199-seat movie house at 152 Bleecker Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Andy Warhol debuted many of his notable films in this building in the late 1960s. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention played here nightly for 6 months in 1967.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
